St. Charles East water polo coach resigns

ST. CHARLES – The St. Charles East coach for the boys water polo team quit Monday in the middle of the season and school officials said they are scrambling to find a replacement so the 30 boys on the team can finish the season.

The coach, Jaclyn Weber, a Spanish teacher at East, said she would not comment about what led her to resign. About 40 water polo parents met for more than 90 minutes Tuesday night in a meeting room at the Norris Center. Though some parents had invited a reporter to the meeting, once there, officials and parents insisted the reporter leave, saying they wanted to handle the situation internally.

After the meeting, parents left without comment.

“The coach just resigned on Monday,” said East Principal Charlie Kyle after the meeting. “Today, we had a meeting with all the water polo parents to talk about searching for a new coach for water polo. We’re talking about when they’re going to be able to meet the new coach and when the new coach and the kids will be back in the pool.”

Countering reports from parents that East Athletic Director Mike Sommerfeld had canceled the rest of the season, Sommerfeld said, “That decision had not been made.”

“Without having a coach, we were uncertain that there would be a rest of the season,” Sommerfeld said.

“Our goal is to have the kids back in the pool by Friday with the new coach,” Kyle said. “When you have a coach that resigns and they’re the only coach, you don’t have anybody to supervise, you don’t have anybody in the pool. Our goal was to assure parents we are going to get a new coach and start the season over again, mid-way through.”

Kyle said they also talked about Senior Night, and the parents had their parent meeting as well.

Reached by phone earlier Tuesday afternoon, Sommerfeld confirmed the school is in the midst of an investigation about “some things that have happened in the water polo season.” He would not elaborate on the nature of the investigation.

“We’re trying to figure things out,” Sommerfeld said. “That’s basically all I can say right now.”

While the parents were in their meeting, various polo team members waited out in the hall with the ousted reporter. Several said they were instructed not to talk about events that led to the coach’s resignation.

Kyle and Sommerfeld said they did not know what the boys were talking about, that they did not say not to talk about it.

“I just know we have a coach who resigned and we’re trying to find a new water polo coach,” Kyle said.